Details

Part of the Hixon Center's Climate and Environmental Sciences Colloquium (CLES199)

Innovations across computing have enabled technologies to become ubiquitous, essential parts of our daily lives. However, the rapid development of new technologies has also enabled the rapid generation of electronic waste. In fact, e-waste is the largest consumer waste stream in the world with estimates of 82 million tons being generated by 2030.

While much of the field of computing focuses on when devices are in use, Jasmine Lu, human-computer interaction researcher and PhD student at University of Chicago, explores how to extend to interactions beyond device use to also include when devices often become e-waste. She investigates "re-computing" electronic waste by incorporating computational methods and interaction design towards reducing, reusing and recycling electronic waste. She'll present an overview of recent research on: (1) re-envisioning e-waste recycling strategies, (2) building computational recycling tools, and (3) empowering end-users in sustainable computing. Drawing on insights from her work, Lu connects re-computing e-waste with computing's broader impacts on the environment and discuss how we can build toward more sustainable computing futures.